TheSerpent Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 My grandfather was from Kerala in south western India, a state which has a relatively high christian population. He was born into a large Syro-Malankara catholic family and was expected to become a priest. Instead he ran off with an English woman. It was quite the scandal, I believe. The Syro-Malankara catholic church is one of 22 "eastern" catholic churches which are in communion with the Pope. My father in turn moved to Australia and met my mother -- who was from an orthodox jewish family. I was raised in the Latin catholic tradition but my mother ensured that we learned about our jewish heritage. Because my mother was a jew I and my brothers and sisters are considered jews too. Let me assure you gefilte fish is every bit as revolting as it sounds. Knishes are awesome. Two of my brothers are quite religious but I never had a strong faith. My father was very strict believing that boys should be raised with a severe hand. Like my brothers I was sent to boarding school when I was six. Catholic, naturally. Faith wise I pretty much coasted along until I admitted to myself that I was an atheist when I was about 15. I made the mistake of telling my father. He went absolutely fucking balistic. Like seriously lost it. I thought he was going to bust a valve. My eldest and ultra-devout brother cracked it too and gave me decent hiding. o.O Indians take religion really seriously. Other than going to mass, school involved lots of corporal punishment. Gentle Jesus meek and mild be buggered. I left home as soon as I went to university. It was a relief. The old man got worse with age. Ma was ok but because I was sent away when I was quite small I never really got close to her. She was utterly dominated by father. Eastern catholics have quite different religious traditions to roman catholics. In the Syro-Malankara church the mass is called "the holy qurbana" and involves lots of priests kissing the floor, amongst other things. The primary litugical language is west syriac though a lot of it is done in malayalam these days. Theologically eastern catholics claim to share the same beliefs as roman catholics "but with a different emphasis". That's a complete crock, of course. Even though I spent the vast majority of my time in the clutches of roman (or more properly 'Latin') catholics, the church considered me to be canonically eastern. This really only matters if you want to be ordained or married. Latin catholics can transfer to an eastern church by eastern catholics cannot become Latins. My name, by the way, is Taj. Well that's my nickname which I got at school. Unlike my siblings I take after my mother complexion wise -- red hair, green eyes, freckles -- so I got called 'Taj' coz I'm a big white Indian. Side splitting stuff, I know. I suppose that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi Taj, I'm Bhim. Good to meet a fellow Indian. I am Hindu, born and raised, but I spent six years as an evangelical Christian during my college/grad school years. It's interesting what you said about Indians taking religion seriously. This is true of my parents as well as my wife (not so much me, though I most certainly identify as Hindu). The gravitas of religion in Indian life is not something that has ever bothered me, but I guess that's not as much of a problem when the religion in question doesn't consign non-adherants to eternal conscious torment in a hell of fire. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi, Taj, and welcome to ExC. Your testimonial was very interesting. I had never heard of all of that about the eastern Catholics that you described. Your family heritage is quite diverse. In fact you are the model of individual diversity, being an Anglo, Indian, Catholic, Jew as you say. I am sorry to read how poorly your father and brother treated you when you told them you were an atheist. Well, people here on ExC view it quite differently. In fact, I am very happy that you left the Christian religion at such an early. People on ExC admire such things. I look forward to hearing more from you now that you have found a cyber home with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSerpent Posted October 25, 2014 Author Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi Taj, I'm Bhim. Good to meet a fellow Indian. I am Hindu, born and raised, but I spent six years as an evangelical Christian during my college/grad school years. It's interesting what you said about Indians taking religion seriously. This is true of my parents as well as my wife (not so much me, though I most certainly identify as Hindu). The gravitas of religion in Indian life is not something that has ever bothered me, but I guess that's not as much of a problem when the religion in question doesn't consign non-adherants to eternal conscious torment in a hell of fire. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you! Hi Bhim! My father never lived in India though he did go to Kerala numerous times, taking us kids with him on several notable occasions. He grew up in England and emigrated to Australia in the late 60s but he still had that Indian patriarch thing going on. One of my sisters married an evangelical christian. He's a pleasant enough fellow, bit uptight but I suppose that's what happens when you believe the earth is 6000 years old. Hi, Taj, and welcome to ExC. Your testimonial was very interesting. I had never heard of all of that about the eastern Catholics that you described. Your family heritage is quite diverse. In fact you are the model of individual diversity, being an Anglo, Indian, Catholic, Jew as you say. I am sorry to read how poorly your father and brother treated you when you told them you were an atheist. Well, people here on ExC view it quite differently. In fact, I am very happy that you left the Christian religion at such an early. People on ExC admire such things. I look forward to hearing more from you now that you have found a cyber home with us. Cheers for the welcome! I'm a bit of a mongrel. To be honest, when I look back on it, I don't think I ever really believed. All the schools I was sent to were run by religious -- sisters in prep school and priests and brothers in high school. When I was small I believed in God and Jesus in same way kids believe in Santa or the tooth fairy. Or virgin births, talking snakes and cosmic jewish zombies. When I finally admitted to being an unbeliever it was really just accepting what I been for a while. I've read quite a few of the testimonials and such here, the misery, unhappiness and damage that christianity has done to people floors me every time. I consider myself quite fortunate by comparison. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi Bhim! My father never lived in India though he did go to Kerala numerous times, taking us kids with him on several notable occasions. He grew up in England and emigrated to Australia in the late 60s but he still had that Indian patriarch thing going on. One of my sisters married an evangelical christian. He's a pleasant enough fellow, bit uptight but I suppose that's what happens when you believe the earth is 6000 years old. Yeah, I never lived in India either. Actually the first time I'd ever been there was last year. My wife used to go all the time though, so I'm learning... Sorry to hear about your sister. Does she share the general worldview of evangelical Christians, i.e. the belief that all non-believers go to hell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Welcome. I don't know much about Indian culture, but I've always assumed it to likely be socially conservative. That's a mindset which tends to demand conformity - was that the motivation of your abusive relations hidden beneath the veneer of religion? Or is my assumption of Indian social conservatism misconceived? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSerpent Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 Hi Bhim! My father never lived in India though he did go to Kerala numerous times, taking us kids with him on several notable occasions. He grew up in England and emigrated to Australia in the late 60s but he still had that Indian patriarch thing going on. One of my sisters married an evangelical christian. He's a pleasant enough fellow, bit uptight but I suppose that's what happens when you believe the earth is 6000 years old. Yeah, I never lived in India either. Actually the first time I'd ever been there was last year. My wife used to go all the time though, so I'm learning... Sorry to hear about your sister. Does she share the general worldview of evangelical Christians, i.e. the belief that all non-believers go to hell? Oh yeah. She's got god in a big way. Like you she was "saved" at university. After that she moved through a number of pentecostal/evangelical churches before settling with an independent fundamental bapist mob where she met and married my now brother-in-law. Everyone who's not an IFB is going to burn in Hell because Jesus Never Fails. In many ways she more hard-core than the B-i-L. Early on they worked hard to convert me but when it became apparent that wasn't going to happen they gave up and we drifted apart. Which is fine with me. ^__^ Welcome. I don't know much about Indian culture, but I've always assumed it to likely be socially conservative. That's a mindset which tends to demand conformity - was that the motivation of your abusive relations hidden beneath the veneer of religion? Or is my assumption of Indian social conservatism misconceived? My experience of Indian culture in Indian is a bit limited -- I've never lived there but I've been back to Kerala a on a few occasions. I also spent most of childhood and adolesence in Australian catholic boarding schools so I'm much more familiar with Anglo (and Ashkenazi Jewish) culture. That said I've always found Indian culture to be fairly socially conservative. Family is everything and ones duty is to the family and then (for want of a better word) the "tribe". Kerala christians essentially all come from the same background -- St Thomas christianity. Whether Syro-Malankara, Syro-Malabar, Mar Thomas or the various forms of Oriental Orthodoxy they all believe St Thomas (doubting Thomas of Gospel fame) travelled to south-western India in the 1st century CE and founded the Church there. Women are subservient to men, marriages are arranged and homosexuality is inconceivable yet widely practiced. I've never really thought of my father as abusive (my elder brothers were different) but I suppose he was in a sense. He was quite a devout catholic but I do think he's treatment of me and indeed my brothers was because he was, at heart, a bit of a bastard. Curiously he doted on my sisters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ nivek ♦ Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Taj, Welcome to ExC. Feel free to hunt around and see what is here to peruse.kevinL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue elephant Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Hi Taj welcome to Ex-C. I live just down the road (in Canberra) but I was born in Sydney and lived there till I was 25. Lots for you to move past in your multicultural upbringing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeThinkerNZ Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Welcome to Ex-C from a fellow Australasian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSerpent Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 Taj, Welcome to ExC. Feel free to hunt around and see what is here to peruse. kevinL Cheers Kevin! Hi Taj welcome to Ex-C. I live just down the road (in Canberra) but I was born in Sydney and lived there till I was 25. Lots for you to move past in your multicultural upbringing! Canberra! Work takes me there from time to time. I really like Canberra. Especially those crisp winter mornings. Welcome to Ex-C from a fellow Australasian. The Land of the Long Flat Vowel! Greetings from the West Island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted October 27, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted October 27, 2014 Malayalam is a palindrome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSerpent Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 Malayalam is a palindrome. Able I was ere I saw Elba. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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